AO In-Hospital for ORP as educational path for junior staff
AO Trauma’s AO In-Hospital for Operating Room Personnel (ORP) point-of-care educational events (formerly known as clinical training modules [CTMs]) make it easy for ORP to gain access to highly relevant and credible training—wherever they are in the world. Vanda Abreu, RN, explained how she uses the highly interactive, adaptable, self-service modules to plan an educational path for her ORP at Portugal’s largest hospital.
Since 2023, Abreu has organized 13 AO In-Hospital for ORP events for emergency operating room (OR) staff at Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte in Lisbon. Those events, she said, left participants asking for more.
“I organized seven events in 2023 and six events this year. The schedule was designed around the availability of the emergency OR staff, who were separated into two groups, so every module was conducted twice,” Abreu explained. “The exception was Module 1: Introduction, to allow new nurses to do the rest of the modules. We offered all available AO In-Hospital for ORP modules and participants are already asking when there will be more.”
Piloted in 2014, AO In-Hospital for ORP events are short, free-of-charge educational sessions—2.5 to 3.5 hours each—designed to support ORP with their continuing nursing education at the point of care and delivered by at least one AO Faculty member in their own hospitals. These engaging, personalized, hospital-based training events offer a vast range of benefits, including reduced costs, little or no travel time, real-time learning in the local language, and faculty familiar with the specific educational needs of their learners. AO Trauma today offers six AO In-Hospital for ORP face-to-face modules:
- Module 1: Introduction
- Module 2: Osteosynthesis with plate and screws
- Module 3: Osteosynthesis with intramedullary nail
- Module 4: Osteosynthesis with cerclage wire and external fixation
- Module 5: Osteosynthesis of the proximal femur
- Module 6: Implant removal
Expanding access to education
Abreu’s interest in the program was triggered by the AO Davos Courses—the AO’s flagship annual event—and the fact that the number of participants at on-site, face-to-face AO courses, whether national or international, is limited.
“In Portugal, AO courses allow for only 48 to 60 participants, and there are thousands of nurses who want to learn the AO principles to better understand trauma surgery. It can really be a big headache if you are not properly trained, because it requires advance planning, fast handling, and perfect coordination and collaboration,” she said. “If I can allow more nurses—even 20—to learn something, that is a big victory. There is no big teaching culture in Portugal [but] maybe that will change with this new generation.”
At Abreu’s large, urban hospital, “nurses are always coming and going,” with no time to learn in the emergency OR everything they need to know.
“They have to know all of the specialties, from trauma to neurosurgery,” she said, pointing out that AO In-Hospital for ORP made it easy for her to plan engaging and relevant training. “My main goal was to make the modules engaging—not boring—so practice was mandatory. I structured lectures followed by practice with permanent communication channels.”
Adaptable educational content
In organizing her hospital’s AO In-Hospital for ORP trainings, Abreu combined face-to-face events with online sessions.
“I always prefer face-to-face events. I recommend that other faculty consider what is best for their reality, their learners. If they are organizing modules for an audience that is spread out geographically, maybe online is the only way to provide the learning opportunity for more people,” she advised. “But in my opinion there is nothing like being with people, looking them in the eye, and ‘listening’ to their body language to understand how best to adapt module content in real time to meet participants’ training needs.”
Each of the 13 AO In-Hospital for ORP events organized by Abreu attracted eight to ten participants—a good number, in her view.
“I think that’s a good number because it’s ideal for good interaction without too much noise and talk between participants; a small group also allows participants the freedom to ask questions and get more clarity on the content,” Abreu said.
While AO In-Hospital for ORP events can easily be organized by one person thanks to AO’s easy-to-use dashboard and ready-to-deploy content, Abreu was happy to have support from her colleagues.
“My head nurse was very excited to support me with these events. She helped me get my project approved by our education department, went with me to meetings, and organized the modules to fit the emergency OR teams’ work shifts,” said Abreu. “Last but not least, I got help from a colleague who works with me in the ortho-traumatology OR and from an orthopedics resident. Being so well surrounded by support was 99 percent of our events’ success.”
Applying new knowledge
The AO In-Hospital for ORP events are already making an impact, she said.
“Participants always left our events with a big smile because they understood the basics and said that these basics will help them. Why? Because they understood what surgeons think and need and they gained new insight into some of the difficulties of surgery,” Abreu emphasized. “It was amazing when, in the weeks after the AO In-Hospital for ORP events, I was approached by participants telling me how they were applying what they learned and able to be more proactive, rather than just handling instruments to their surgeons.”
Highly recommended
Abreu said she highly recommends AO In-Hospital for ORP to both faculty and prospective learners.
“Continuous education is mandatory in ortho-traumatology if we want to stay up to date. There are always innovations, but the AO principles remain the same: We have to build the house from the foundation up,” she said. “With AO In-Hospital for ORP, you don’t have to think too much: Just organize and do it, even if you doubt whether you can do it—because you can.”